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We First 5: What You Need to Know This Friday

Simon Mainwaring / Leadership / 3 years ago

1. A Campaign to Follow – #ChapterOneThankyou – an Australian social enterprise – has broken all the rules of fast moving consumer goods since it was founded in 2008. By using social media and grassroots support to coerce industry heavyweights into multimillion-dollar deals, Thankyou has expanded its products from bottled water to body care and food, enabling it to scale its social impact in the developing world to fight global poverty. But their latest campaign is by far the most ambitious one yet: https://chapterone.thankyou.co/

2. From Trash to Treasure – ReFED’s New Study
The first ever national economic study and action plan to reduce food waste, ReFED’s Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste, was published this week by a coalition of 30 businesses, government agencies, investors, foundations, and non-profits. The Roadmap highlights and evaluates an abundance of actionable ideas and cost-effective solutions for reducing food waste in America – a $100 billion opportunity. And it goes even further than this to detail exactly how and why our government, businesses, funders and non-profits alike can effectively replicate, scale and fund these into action in a practical and profitable way.

3.Food Waste in Action – World’s First Biofuel Flight
Aviation isn’t known for being environmentally progressive, but United Airlines is sparking change. Today marked United’s first biofuel flight, powered 30% on converted trash and farm waste. This is the beginning of United’s plan to fuel all flights from LAX on biofuel, making it the first aviation company to commit to powering a significant portion of commercial flights on renewable fuel. When it comes to clean transportation in the US, this is a watershed moment in commercial leadership.

5. Predicting the Near Future – Summit in San Diego
This week, Simon attended the Near Future Summit in San Diego, an intimate gathering of 250 industry heavyweights like Arianna Huffington and Peter Diamandis. The Summit touched on issues and innovations encompassing artificial intelligence, cultured meat, 3D printed organs, pathways to a circular economy and sustainable design solutions. Hosting an inspiring set of trailblazers, you can read through Near Future’s tweets or get in touch with us to learn more.